How to Deal with Incompetence

By now, I’m sure you are quite familiar with the psychological phenomenon known as “impostor syndrome”. Also known as the fraud syndrome, this is a condition in which an individual doesn’t integrate their accomplishments and has recurring patterns of fearful thoughts of being exposed as a fraud, despite substantial evidence of their success and competence.

But what if those feelings of incompetence are justified? And in spite of evidence to support this incompetence, what if these low performing people carry an internal illusion of superiority that leads them to assess their cognitive ability as greater than it actually is? In the field of psychology, this cognitive bias is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, named after two American social psychologists and university professors that co-authored a study in the late ’90s. They found that some people who are evidently bad at certain tasks mistakenly overestimate how good they are. Their lack of self-awareness is such that they simply cannot accurately evaluate their level of competence (or incompetence for that matter).

Before I continue, if you are currently dealing with impostor syndrome and are already panicking, thinking perhaps you are experiencing the Dunning-Kruger effect, please snap out it! As I said, you have to have substantial and concrete evidence that you are consistently underperforming in a given task or tasks AND despite these facts, you are convinced that you are performing above par. The delusion has to be evident.

What if you are managing someone that is showing clear signs of the Dunning-Kruger effect? What can you do to correct the situation? The following tips might come in handy:

1.-Review your recruitment strategy.-Before you get into this pickle, make sure you that there is a clear and undisputed match between the candidate’s strengths and the job in hand. Be extremely rigorous and selective in every stage of the process.

2.-Feedback, feedback, feedback.-Don’t wait until a performance review to inform the other person of their sustained underperformance. It’s not fair to the individual and it is harmful to the company. If you notice sustained incompetence early on, switch them to a different project or department were the person’s strengths will be fully utilised.

3.-Use objective indicators.-The person’s inability to assess their level of competence doesn’t block their basic mathematical capability. Numbers (hit a specific target) and dates (perform a task by a specific date) tell the story loud and clear, so use hard, quantitative metrics to measure performance.

4.-Be compassionately direct.-Feedback will be best received if it is timely, clear and caring.  If the person on the receiving end of the conversation feels that you genuinely care for their development, the probability that you will get the desired outcome will significantly increase.

Taking Back Control of your Day

An event horizon is a notional boundary around a black hole beyond which nothing can escape, not even light. The gravitational force is so strong that the escape speed exceeds the speed of light. It’s the infamous point of no return. Once inside the black hole, you will reach something called a singularity, which is the place where all the matter in a black hole gets crushed into.

Email inboxes resemble black holes; usually, when you are replying to your 3rd email, you have crossed the event horizon. The gravitational pull of your inbox is so powerful that you inadvertently isolate yourself from anything else. Once inside, rather than getting crushed into tiny bits of matter, you have basically given sizeable chunks of energy and time to other people’s priorities and agendas.

I’ve always felt that the phrase “urgent email” is an oxymoron – there is not such a thing. If I’m going to be late to collect my son from school, I’m not going to send an email – I’ll call the school. If I lock myself out my car, I don’t send an email to my road assistance company – I’ll call them. So if someone sends me an email and then calls me (or texts me) to let me know that the matter is urgent/important, then I will give the email the desired attention.

I’m not trying by any means to downplay the importance of email. Although I have drastically replaced email with other systems of communication (video-calls, text messaging, content sharing applications, etc.), I still believe that email is a critical communication platform. That being said, we should not let that useful tool deplete our energy and govern our time like it generally does.

Using email wisely can single-handedly increase your productivity levels, safeguard your energy and improve your mood noticeably. You will feel less overwhelmed and more in control, allowing you to focus on your priorities and the things that matter most to you.

Recommendations

Schedule time for email review.  Don’t just jump into your inbox every 10 minutes. That is such a productivity killer. Allocate time slots in your diary dedicated to email and stick to the assigned time.

Don’t reply to ALL emails.   Some people feel the need to reply to most emails, even when they are put in cc. You don’t have to. I have some coaching clients that get north of 150 emails every day, so it takes them a great deal of mindful thinking as to where they will invest their energy. 

Be mindful of email recipients.  The best and worse email function is “Reply all”. It is 2019, and I can’t believe how mindless some people are when they click the “reply all” to an email which 99% of the recipients don’t need to receive in the first place. Be mindful as to whom you address your emails to and email karma will be good to you.

Use filters. Nowadays, email clients have gotten really smart. You can filter emails that are sent to you only, forward newsletters directly to a folder without even reaching your inbox, etc. Spend time understanding the mechanics of filters, and you will be amazed at how combinations of filters can help you manage your inbox wisely.